Humpty Dumpty
Governing any organization based on one’s preconceived notions is a bad approach to effective management.
So it is with the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, when Gov. Paul LePage instructed his appointee, Mary Mayhew, to “take a broom to it.” The result has been that a once-effective program of preventive public health services for the people of Maine is now a shadow of its former self.
LePage likes to state that he wants to do what is best for Maine. I am not certain who these people are, but it is pretty clear who they aren’t. The proof is in the pudding, as they say. All one has to do is read issues of the BDN that describe where past have been and where proposed DHHS budget cuts are being made. They affect a large group of the population the administration is convinced is not doing enough to find the help they need elsewhere or who aren’t doing enough to help themselves.
Funds are being cut from the state budget, and available federal funding is being refused. Examples include reduction in public health nursing staffing, the people who are front line health service providers and teachers of good health; refusal to accept Medicaid Expansion funds; and the notion that incarceration is the road to substance abuse recovery while Maine’s jails are bursting at the seams. Sadly, like Humpty Dumpty, DHHS has fallen — or been pushed — off the wall. It may take years to reassemble it.
Bill Shook
Bangor
Local spending
Holden’s Town Council has been on a spending spree these past few years, purchasing everything from sport utility vehicles for the police and fire departments to a half-million dollar fire truck to a plow truck. In 2014, the Council pushed through the decision to fund the half-million dollar expansion of the fire station. These purchases have increased the town’s indebtedness and reduced available department reserve funds to the point that a 54 percent increase in the reserve fund budget is being considered to bring these reserve funds back to acceptable levels. This increase could result in Holden’s mill rate increasing unless reductions are made in other areas.
Holden already has seen its tax rate increase by more than 16 percent in the last five years. Bangor, Brewer, Hampden and Bucksport have incurred increases ranging from 3.4 to 9 percent over this same period.
The unanswered question has been raised regarding what would happen should the state end revenue sharing. Most likely, taxes would increase significantly, not just for Holden but for most Maine towns. It would appear Holden’s Town Council, by recent actions, has done little to prepare for this happening.
Involvement is the key word. We should no longer just sit by while our tax bill increases but take an active role in formatting how we spend our dollar. There is an open Town Council meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 21, to allow voters the chance to question the proposed budget. I urge Holden voters to attend.
Richard Barclay
Holden
Crisis training for police
Sixty-four thousand Mainers live with a serious mental illness, and when they are confronted with a crisis, our local law enforcement officers are often the first responders to these situations. For many local law enforcement departments, specifically in rural areas in Maine, adequate training on how to appropriately and effectively approach a psychiatric emergency is lacking. Additionally, in these rural areas of Maine, there is limited opportunity to engage in a safe and appropriate handoff of these patients to trained professionals at a medical or psychiatric hospital. For this reason, individuals struggling to overcome a crisis of this nature are left in the hands of law enforcement officers, which inevitably warrants the need for training among them.
A 40-hour training in Crisis Intervention Treatment is being offered by National Alliance of Mental Health of Maine. Currently, this training to manage crises of this nature effectively is not mandatory for our police departments; however, in some capacity, multiple police departments, including Portland, Sanford and Augusta, have made efforts to incorporate the Crisis Intervention Treatment training into their work.
A bill, LD 534, proposed by state Rep. Richard Malaby of Hancock will be viewed this year and will propose that at least 20 percent of officers in every police department in Maine complete the Crisis Intervention Treatment training within a two-year window. With the goals of education, awareness, safety and well-being for all members of our communities, it is my hope that all acknowledge this bill with positive regard.
Julia St. John
Orono
Arming forest rangers
If we were to arm Maine forest rangers, they would go the way of the Maine Warden Service. The warden service now spends far too much of its time with general law enforcement rather than protecting Maine’s fish and game laws. The fees we pay to enjoy hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation are intended to fund the warden service in their original roles. We don’t need more pickup trucks rolling into the gravel pit Saturday nights to see what the kids are up to.
Thomas Copeland
Holden
Concealed handgun safety
The April 6 BDN article about state Sen. Eric Brakey’s concealed carry bill failed to accurately represent the Maine requirements for concealed carry. The article implied the requirements “mostly means being free of serious criminal charges or convictions.” For one thing, Maine’s requirements extend to a mental health search. The applicant is required to give authorities permission to check with Maine hospitals and with mental health institutions. Also, an applicant must have certified handgun safety training.
A proponent of Brakey’s bill, LD 652, that will eliminate concealed carry requirements is Matthew Glatz, a member of Gun Owners of Maine. He asserts safety training is not necessary and uses his experience for a rationale. He explained his handgun safety training was satisfied at the age of 8 by shooting a .22-caliber rifle. This doesn’t even pass the straight-face test.
I wager we would all be surprised by how many people have concealed carry permits. But, at least, they have passed criminal and mental health checks and gun safety tests.
Keith Dunson
Belfast